Desperation on the Left

In the last 48 hours, I have received emails from representatives of the Democratic Party with the following subject lines: “nightmare,” “disaster” and “Romney defeats Obama?” Which is, of course, the nightmare and the disaster. Those headlines give you a pretty good idea of what the Democrats are seeing in their internal polling.

Here is “nightmare,” authored by Democratic consultant James Carville:

From: James Carville
Subject: nightmare

I wish I had good news for you.

I want to tell you that President Obama has a second term in the bag. I want to tell you that the Koch Brothers are giving up their plot to buy the election.

But here’s where things really stand: We’re gonna have to go through hell and high-water to win this damn thing. It’s gonna be hard. Every big-oil billionaire and Republican Super PAC is throwing the kitchen sink at President Obama.

If we don’t fight back, it’ll be over long before November.

Contribute $3 or more to back up President Obama with a Democratic majority. Get your donation in today and it’ll get matched >>

Every dollar we can muster will go straight to the front lines — organizers on the ground and ads on the air hitting Republicans where it hurts.

If you’re with us, then give what you can today:

http://dccc.org/Now-Or-Never

C’mon now!

James

It strikes me as pathetic that the once-proud Democratic Party, the party, as it likes to tell us, of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, is reduced to whining about the Koch brothers to raise money from the party’s dwindling faithful. Here is “disaster,” which comes from Al Gore:

The last thing we want is the Republican Party — a party that’s been hijacked by an extremist fringe — to win the White House and tighten its grip on Congress.

That would spell disaster for our economy and our environment.

That’s why I’m helping the DCCC raise the $2 million they need to have on hand by tomorrow’s midnight fundraising deadline. This deadline is so important that a group of Democrats have agreed to match your contribution 2-to-1, tripling your impact.

24 HOURS TO GO: Donate $3 or more to elect a strong Democratic majority for President Obama >>

One thing I have never figured out is why, if the Republicans represent only an “extremist fringe,” there is such a grave danger that they will win a majority of the votes in this year’s presidential election. It is interesting, too, that while one of the Democrats’ persistent fundraising pitches is that they are competing against rich Republicans, at the same time they encourage donations by pointing out that “a group of Democrats” will match contributions two to one. I don’t suppose these matching funds are coming from poor people. Finally, here is “Romney Defeats Obama?” from Obama’s deputy campaign manager, Stephanie Cutter:

When you read the news 101 days from now, that might be the headline you see.

Those few words will tell us whether we fought back hard enough against Romney and the Republicans’ massive special-interest fundraising machine — or if we didn’t do enough, maybe because we got complacent or thought that we had this one in the bag.

Donate $3 or more today — and don’t leave this one up to luck, chance, or anything else.

Don’t let anyone convince you that this is a sure thing — our opponents have almost unlimited resources at their disposal, and we already know they’ll outspend us by a good amount.

What we do now decides the headlines on November 7th.

We’re facing a huge fundraising deadline. Please donate now, and have a hand in the outcome of this election:

Thanks,

Stephanie

Stephanie Cutter
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America

The Democrats couch their anxiety in terms of fundraising, but that isn’t the real problem. The real problem is what they are seeing in the polls: Romney leading in likely voter surveys; Romney more trusted than Obama on the economy and other key issues; enthusiasm higher among Republicans than Democrats; and so on. The extent of the anxiety the Democrats are feeling comes through loud and clear in their email communications.